Activation of a telephone&#39;s own call answering equipment according to the number of the calling party

ABSTRACT

In a communication device ( 20 ) comprising a message function (SMS, Short Message Service) a certain short message ( 7 ) or other reply message is sent in response to an incoming call in a situation where the user can&#39;t answer the call him/herself. The reply message can be sent immediately ( 9 ) or after a short delay ( 10, 11 ), whereby during the delay, the user can choose, whether he/she answers him/herself. The calling party ( 5 ) is identified from the CLI information (Caller Line Identity), whereby the reply message can be chosen according to the calling party. Time information can be included in the reply message in order to express at which time by the clock or after a how long time the receiving party is reachable. After that time the automatic reply function based on the reply message is automatically disconnected.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to message services betweentelephone devices and in particular to using the number of the callingparty for transmitting a message in a situation that the receiving partyis busy.

When using a telephone, there is often a situation that the receivingparty can't answer the incoming call. In case of wire connectedtelephones this is in most cases because the user is not in theneighbourhood of his/her telephone. As the radio connected telephonesare becoming common, the telephone is more often continuously carriedalong by the user, but for example in the middle of a meeting it is notpossible to answer it without disturbing the course of the meeting. As aknown solution in those situations there is used a call answeringmachine that can be a separate device bought by the user or can belocated at a telephone exchange apparatus operated by a company or ateleoperator. Typical of call answering machines is that they reproducea short prerecorded notice to the calling party and after that give thecalling party an opportunity to leave a message that will be stored intothe answering machine and can be played back later by the receivingparty.

In certain situations the receiving party can, however, wish thatdifferent callers would be served in different ways when he/she is notable to answer him/herself. If the receiving party is, for example,having a long lunch with his fellow employees, it is to be recommendedthat the reply message informs, when his wife is calling, that he isattending an important work meeting. But if the caller is his own boss,the explanation of having a meeting won't work but the answeringequipment should inform that the receiving party is “on business”.Another situation requiring a different treatment according to thecalling party is a prolonged meeting, after which the receiving partyhas appointed another meeting. In that case the person with whom thelatter appointment has been made can call and wonder what's keepinghim/her. The answering equipment should be able to tell him/her, howlong the meeting is still going to last. Calls from other callers can beignored or they can be routed to a usual reply service, because theending time of the meeting does not make any difference to them.

The present mobile phones have, almost without exception, a display, bymeans of which the receiving party, when the telephone rings, can seethe telephone number of the calling party connected to a digitalexchange. In fast situations it is preferable that the receiving partycan still at that moment decide, which kind of a reply service will beapplied to the calling party in question.

Known from the patent publication EP-588, 101 (Goldman & Wu, ROLMCompany) there is a procedure, where the number identification of thecalling party is used. This function is known in the art and called ANI(Automatic Number Identification) or CLI (Caller Line Identity). In thesolution proposed by the reference publication, the telephone number ofthe calling party or a corresponding identity code is transmittedthrough the telephone network to that exchange apparatus, where thetelephone reply service of the receiving party is operating. Thereceiving user has beforehand entered to the reply service as keycommands a list of those telephone numbers for which he/she wishes tohave a special treatment. When a call is coming, the ANI codetransferred with the call is compared by the apparatus to the list ofthe stored numbers and if the number is on the list, certain specialservices are offered to the calling party. The publication proposes,e.g., that the message given by this caller can receive a prioritytreatment according to which this message will be played back prior toothers when the receiver starts to playback the answering equipment.Alternatively, the answering equipment can reproduce a different messagefor those calling parties, the numbers of which are on the list.Further, a function is proposed, according to which the receiving usercan afterwards initiate a callback to those persons who are on the listand have called the answering equipment, by depressing a single key.

The method proposed by the reference publication has, however, drawbacksassociated with the call answering equipment itself. As the exchangeapparatus, in view of billing, treats the activation of the callanswering equipment in the same way as the usual answering of the call,the calling party must pay at least a local call charge, although he/sheis connected only to the answering equipment. Especially for those whoare calling from a slot machine this is often infuriating. The operationof a call answering equipment requires a two-way connection, ie.transmission of speech in both directions in the network, by which thenetwork capacity is reserved. Also storing of voice messages takes a lotof memory space in digital systems. Further, a call answering machinelocated in the exchange requires for remote using through a terminaldevice that the receiving party gets in advance into a telecommunicationwith the exchange and gives a group of key commands, that can bedifficult to know by heart. Also, these commands can't be given when thetelephone is already alarming for an incoming call, so that it is notpossible to react in fast situations according to the number of thecalling party, but only to decide whether the call will be answered byoneself or given to the reply service.

Known from the publication “Ericsson Review”, p. 145, No. 4, Stockholm1988 there is an exchange apparatus BCS 150, the telephone answeringfunction of which can give instead of a voice reply a text message, ifthe telephone device of the calling party is equipped with suitablereceiver and display means for producing text messages. In that casethere is no need to reserve a telephone line for a two-way speechconnection. In addition, the calling party can leave to the exchange anautomatic callback request that does not reserve as much memory as avoice message to be stored. The apparatus is, however, still used by theexchange, whereby the controlling of the telephone reply service must beperformed in advance, for which the receiving party is required to knowthe key commands. In addition, the receiving party has no other way toexpress through the call answering equipment some certain term but bystoring a new reply message concerning the term in question.

Known from the patent publication WO-90/03700 there is much the samekind of an exchange apparatus, where the reply message can be in voiceor text form. There the messages sent by a calling party are stored intoa memory of a computer, whereby, in case they are in text form, they canbe transmitted through the display of the receiving party or printed onpaper by a printer. Also this system is used by the exchange and has noservices concerning any fixed time limits.

Known from the patent publication EP-564,756 there is a selectiveanswering station that based on the identity code of the caller checksif the calling party is on a certain list of acceptable callers. If not,the call is not answered. If the identity code of the calling party ison the list, the answering station decides, which of the receivingparties connected thereto will take the call. Also, certain callingparties can receive a priority treatment so that the calls given bythese calling parties will be connected prior to other calls. Notelephone reply service changing according to the number of the callingparty and no fixed-term mechanisms are described in this publication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and anapparatus, by means of which the telephone answering function can beadapted to operate in different ways according to the number of thecalling party and the use of which for the mentioned purpose is simpleand flexible. An object of the present invention is also to provide amethod and an apparatus, by means of which the messages to be given bythe reply service can be tied up with certain fixed terms.

The objects of the invention will be achieved by accomplishing theincoming-call related calling number identification in the telephonedevice that is receiving the call, and by giving the telephone user thepossibility to choose a different replying function on the basis of theidentified calling number. To achieve the object concerning fixed timelimits, a clock-time part will be attached to the reply.

The method in accordance with the present invention for answering a callcoming to a communication device in a situation where the user of thecommunication device can't answer the call him/herself is characterizedin that in response to the incoming call, the communication deviceidentifies the caller on the basis of an identification informationincluded within the incoming call and sends a reply according to aselection made by the user, or directs the incoming call to anotheraswering service, said reply being one of the following: a voicemessage, an e-mail message, a facsimile, an SMS message in the form of acharacter string.

The present invention also concerns a communication device characterizedin that it comprises means for identifying the caller on the basis of anidentification information included within the incoming call and forsending, according to a selection made by the user, a reply in responseto the call, said reply being one of the following: a voice message, ane-mail message, a facsimile, an SMS message in the form of a characterstring.

The drawbacks of the prior art programmable answering services aremainly a consequence of the fact that the asnwering function has beenimplemented wholly in a telephone exchange or comparable equipment. Thisis understandable, because the prior art telephone devices have notgiven the opportunity to realize very complicated aswering functions inthe user's own telephone device. According to the present invention onemay use the telephone's own functions instead of or in addition to thoseof the telephone exchange or a separate auxiliary device, whereby thecalling number identification and the reaction based thereon arepreferably implemented in the user's telephone device. The user mayhim/herself make the decision, according to the incoming call, howhe/she will answer to it; for example, should the voice mail service ofthe network take care of answering or should the Short Message Service(SMS) feature of the telephone be utilized, whereby the short message tobe sent in response to a call given by a certain calling party is chosenbased on the identification of the calling party. Short message refersin this patent application to data transfer determined by certaintelephone systems in the form of a character string, wherein no actualtelephone connection is required to be formed but it is transferred as aso called signalling. Transmission of a short message can be effectedautomatically or through a key command and it can be effectedimmediately after the call has come or with a short delay, so that thereceiving party can choose between different alternative functions afterhaving seen the telephone number of the calling party on the display ofthe telephone. In addition to or instead of sending a short message, thecall can be routed to a usual call answering machine, so that thecalling party has the opportunity to leave a voice message or some othermessage. Also this routing can be based on the identification of thecalling party.

For implementing the fixed terms, a clock-time can be included in themessages, especially short messages, according to the invention to besent as answers, to tell when the receiving party will be reachable nexttime. The clock-time included in the short message can be tied up withthe real time clock of the device or to some other timer means, so thatthe device decreases automatically the time left. For example, the firstcaller can get in reply a short message “I'll be still 20 minutes in ameeting” and a call coming five minutes later will be answered “I'll bestill 15 minutes in a meeting”. After expiration of the given time, theshort message reply can be disconnected automatically, so that the userdoes not have to take care of removing the function. If thecommunication device of the receiving party is at the same time a pocketcomputer including a calendar program, the electronic markings madethereto can be used as a basis for timing the messages. Then the messagecan be e.g. “I'll be in a meeting from 14 to 16 o'clock”.

As one of the special advantages of the invention can be considered thefact that for storing for example a short message as an answeringmessage only a little of memory space is required, so that it does notburden unreasonably the capacity of the user's terminal device.Additionally, the use of the method in accordance with the invention issoundless, whereby the eventually ongoing meeting will not be disturbed.Further, it is more simple to store the messages into one's own terminaldevice by means of a menu controlled user interface preferably includedtherein, compared with the remote control of a telephone answeringsystem located in the exchange apparatus, and accordingly, a standardmessage can be kept in the exchange apparatus and a message changing inaccordance with each situation can be kept in one's own terminal device.As the method and apparatus in accordance with the invention does notrequire any additional requirements or limitations to the operation ofan exchange, they can be flexibly attached along with existing,exchange-used systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The present invention will now be described in more detail withreference to the exemplified preferred embodiments and accompanyingdrawings, wherein

FIG. 1 illustrates as a simple flow diagram a preferable embodiment ofthe method in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a detail of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplified communication device, where the methodaccording to the invention is applicable.

In figures the corresponding parts are identified with the samereference numbers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1 there is a flow diagram of a function according to one simpleembodiment of the invention in a mobile communication device comprisingthe short message function. The operation starts from point 1, where anincoming call is noticed. The apparatus checks according to point 2 ifthe reply service employing the short message service (SMS Reply) isswitched on. If not, it moves to point 3 corresponding the treatment ofthe call in a usual and known way. When the service is switched on, theapparatus then checks in point 4 which kind of an alarm procedure isapplied to and in point 5 if the identity code of the caller (CLI,Caller Line Identity) is available. The latter is required for sending ashort message. In point 6, the apparatus reads from the memory the shortmessage stored therein and if it includes a time-dependent part, itcounts the required time information. In point 7, the message is sent tothe calling party, supposing that the communication device of thecalling party has the short message function. In order to check this, itis possible to judge e.g. from the telephone number included in the CLIinformation of the calling party, if the calling party has a GSMtelephone. In point 8 the call can further be routed to a normal callanswering machine that can be in connection with the same mobilecommunication device or some exchange apparatus.

In FIG. 2 there is described in more detail one preferred embodiment ofpoint 4, that has three different alternatives according to the alarmfunction that the user has selected. The first alternative 9 istransmitting a short message as a reply immediately without an alarm orother signal to the receiving party. In the second alternative 10 theapparatus gives an alarm that can be, in the way known in the art, asound alarm or a soundless alarm, and waits after that for a moment, sothat the user can choose whether he/she answers the call in a normal wayor not. If the user does not answer, a short message will be sent. Inthe third alternative 11 the apparatus gives a sound or a soundlessalarm, whereby the user can answer the call normally or give a certainkey command that means sending a short message. In the last mentionedcase there can be several key commands each of them corresponding adifferent short message. The operation alternative 11 has the advantagethat if there are certain standard messages stored into the memory ofthe device, it is applicable, even if the user has not taken anypreliminary measures in order to take the reply service employing shortmessages into use.

Even more generally, the short messages used in reply to incoming callscan be standard messages stored into the device in connection withmanufacturing or programming or the user can write his/her own messageshim/herself. There are several procedures known in prior art, by whichmessages consisting of letters can be written by means of a numericalkeypad of a usual mobile phone. If a special alphabetic keypad isincluded in the mobile station, the writing of messages is still easier.

The identity code of the calling party read in point 5 can be used inmany ways. The user can e.g. program his/her device in advance so thatit sends a short message only in reply to the calls of certain,separately named callers, whereby the others are not answered with theshort message, or that it does not send the short message to certainnamed callers. There can also be several short message replies, wherebythe caller determines in advance, which message is sent to each callingparty. The choices can be based e.g. on a system that internal calls ofthe own company are separately identified or that it is judged from thecountry code of the telephone number of the calling party, which countrythe call is coming from, so that the short message can be sent in thelanguage of the country in question. By comparing the country code to acertain data base, it can also be judged, what is the time in theposition of the calling party, whereby a part applying to time zone canbe attached to the short message. The user can also have simply namedcertain telephone numbers, the calls coming from which are answered withcertain short messages. The marking can be based on an electronicnotebook already included in the communication device or a short messagenotebook or a list available to the reply service especially employingthe short messages.

If the telephone number of the calling party refers to some record ofthe notebook integrated to the device, where, in addition to thetelephone number, also the subscriber's name of the number is storedinto, the short message to be sent as a reply can be personified byattaching the name in question to it, so that the message is e.g.:“Hello Anne, I'm in a meeting, call again in 20 minutes”. If the numberof the calling party has been read as CLI data but the correspondingnumber has not been stored earlier to any notebook, it can beautomatically stored. At the same time the device can store into itsmemory means an automatic reminder asking after a certain time the userto call the number in question. If the same caller calls again, theshort message to be given in reply can be changed to a different one. Ifno identity data of the calling party is available, there can be sent amessage asking the calling party to enter his/her telephone number,whereby the corresponding DTMF signals (Dual Tone MultiFrequency) aretransmitted to the device of the receiving party where they can beinterpreted and registered.

As mentioned above, a clock-time part can be attached to the shortmessage to be sent in reply, in order to express the time by which thereceiving party will be reachable again. In regard to the time by theclock, there are two principle alternatives: the message can include afixed time by the clock, saved as a part of the message or read by thecommunication device of the user from a calendar program includedtherein, or the device can specify the time information separately foreach incoming call based on a counter clock. The first alternative hasthe drawback that a caller calling from a different country is notnecessarily aware, if the short message emerging in his/her telephone“Call again at 16 o'clock” means the time of the target country or thelocal time. The latter alternative is found to be the best of these two.There the user has entered the starting time of the meeting and itsfigured duration into his/her device in advance, or only the figuredtime by which he/she will be free again. The device can also read theabove mentioned information from a calendar program. When a call comesinto the device, the device checks itself how long time is left untilthe receiver will be free and formulates the short message e.g. into theform “Call again in 20 minutes”. In both of the time alternatives anautomatic quitting procedure is applicable, according to which the replyfunction is automatically disconnected when the time limit has expired.

In the following, the method in accordance with the present inventionwill be described from the user's point of view, with reference to acommunication device according to FIG. 3. This kind of a communicationdevice is described e.g. in the Finnish patent application no. 955,682“Double-acting Communication Device”, which at the filing date of thepresent application is not public. It concerns a mobile communicationdevice comprising substantially two separate user interfaces, the firstuser interface being a telephone user interface like present mobilephones located on the outer surface of the device. The second userinterface comprises a larger display and an alphanumeric keypad forusing of which the outer covering of the telephone will be opened. Thedata transfer is implemented, like with present digital mobile phones,in a cellular radio network. FIG. 3 shows from the communication device20 especially the second user interface comprising a display 21 and akeypad 22 and function keys 23 located beside the display, to be usedfor choosing those functions and alternatives, the codes of which are onthe display 21 by certain function keys 23 respectively.

It is assumed that the second user interface of the communication device20 has a procedure for starting certain application programs. The userchooses among the application programs a program called SMS Reply Mode(Short message reply mode) and starts using it by depressing a certainSelect key. The so called main window of the SMS Reply Mode will bedisplayed in the display 21, said window including, among others, by thefunction keys 23 a list of available function alternatives e.g. in thefollowing form

Set On

Predefined Messages

Options

Close.

The user can now write the desired reply message through the keypad 22.The message will be displayed in the message region of the display 21reserved to it and the writing will be ended by depressing the functionkey at the alternative “Set On”, whereby the device 20 stores themessage into a certain short message register (not shown in thefigures). Finally, the user depresses the function key at thealternative “Close”, whereby the device returns to the basic mode. Thereply service using the short message is thus switched on.

When the user wants to disconnect the short message reply, he/shechooses again the program SMS Reply Mode. A list of available functionalternatives will be displayed in the display 21 by the function keys23, the alternatives being now

Set Off

Predefined Messages

Options

Close.

The user depresses function keys “Set Off” and “Close” one after theother, whereby the short message reply mode is switched off and thedevice returns to the basic mode.

If the user depresses the function key “Predefined Messages”, thedisplay 21 shows a list of ready messages that can include generalnotices and the following function alternatives

Select

Add

Delete

Cancel

By a certain ready message there is some selection mark, that the usercan move from one message to another by depressing a certain key whichis preferably an arrow key (not separately shown in the figure). Bydepressing the “Select” key the user selects the message in questionthat will be copied onto the message region of the main window, where itcan further be edited. Through the function keys “Add” and “Delete” theuser can add and delete ready messages. By using the function key“Cancel” this window will be closed without copying any of the readymessages onto the message region of the main window.

The alternative “Options” means a mode where the user can, in a morevaried way than what has been described above, affect the operation ofthe application program controlling the short message reply mode. Bydepressing the function key “Options” in the main window, the user getsonto the display 21 instructions e.g. concerning the use of the timeinformation and the automatic disconnecting of the short message replymode described above. In the mode Options the user can also make choicesconcerning the use of the CLI information expressing different callingparties for controlling the reply service.

The operation modes and alternatives emerging onto the display describedabove are meant as examples only, without limiting the invention. In thefuture it is e.g. possible, that the speech identification techniquewill be so much developed that the control of the whole operation can beimplemented through speech commands. Additionally, the above describedfunction can be implemented also in a usual mobile phone without anextended keypad and display user interface according to FIG. 3. In thatcase, different alphabetic and control functions are attached to thenumeric and other keys of the mobile phone in the way known in the art.

Means in the mobile communication devices for transferring shortmessages are known in prior art. A communication device in accordancewith the invention further comprises display and data entering means forimplementing the above described operation measures, which means arealso usual in present mobile phones. Additionally, the communicationdevice in accordance with the invention must have means for controllingthe operation. They are preferably implemented as software processesthat are stored to the memory means included in the communication devicein a form to be performed by the microprocessor controlling itsoperation.

The description above concentrates—for the sake of demonstrationalclarity—on the use of SMS messages as answers. The invention is,however, not limited to SMS messages, but the answer may, according toother embodiments of the invention, be also a e-mail message or afacsimile, if the user's communication device is capable of associatingthe caller to a certain e-mail address or facsimile number by using thetelephone directory information stored in its memory. The answer mayalso be a voice message, if the user's communication device is capableof storing a voice message into its memory, from which it may reproduceit as an answer to an incoming call. The user selects from his/hercommunication device, which answering service he/she wants to offer toeach identified caller.

An advantage of using a locally stored voice message as an answer to anincoming call according to the invention is that the caller momentarilyreacts as if the receiving party had answered him/herself. That is, thecaller does not for example hang up immediately when he/she perceivesthe answer, as could be the case if an SMS message would be sent as ananswer together with an electronic answering tune. We may suppose thatthe receiving party is attending a lecture, where speaking is notpermitted, and he/she wants the calling party to wait, without hangingup, until the receiving party has got out of the lecture room andreached the lounge where he/she may speak freely. According to apreferable embodiment of the method of the invention, the receivingparty detects the incoming call through a silent alarm of his/hertelephone, optionally also sees from the display who is calling, gives akey command that causes the telephone to send a voice message “Pleasewait for a moment, I'll be back after a short while” and walks quietlyout of the room to be able to speak to the phone. This method also worksin the middle of a telephone conversation, if one of the parties musthave a short break for some reason. The invention is thus not limited tosending a message in the immediate beginning of a call.

The voice message option is also easily adapted to the previouslyexplained principle of composing the answer message from differentparts, even “online”, to include for example a piece of timeinformation. An example of composing a voice message “online” is thefollowing. The receiving party has previously stored to the memory ofhis/her telephone the voice message equivalents of the phrase “I'll beback” and some time periods, like “in 30 minutes”, “after one hour” or“tomorrow”. There are separate key commands that correspond to thesending of each of these previously stored voice messages. When thetelephone indicates that a call is coming, the receiving party may givea first key command, that causes the telephone to answer the call bysending a voice message “I'll be back”, and a second key command likepressing the keys “3” and “0” in succession, whereby the resulting voicemessage that the caller hears is: “I'll be back . . . in 30 minutes”.

The messages that the telephone apparatus is able to send to the otherparty of a telephone call may be interconnected so that the contents ofthe message is the same regardless of the form in which it is sent. Thisis most easily realised by including into the telephone apparatus avoice synthesizer, which is able to transform text messages into voicemessages. This kind of synthesizers are well known in speech-relatedcomputer technology. It is very convenient for the user of the apparatusto create, store and edit the messages in text form, and whenever avoice message is needed, the voice synthesizer transforms the respectivetext message into audible form.

The method of sending messages as answers according to the inventionalso works together with the so-called knocking feature, which meansthat a third party placing a call to a receiving party who is alreadyhaving a telephone conversation with someone else causes the receivingparty to hear a short “knocking tune” in the middle of the ongoingconversation to inform him/her that another call is coming. Thereceiving party may, according to the invention, give a simple keycommand that sends the knocking caller an answering message like “I'mbusy, please wait for . . . one minute” or any other message that hasbeen described above. This answer may be a previously selected standardanswer to all knocking parties, or the receiving party may select themost proper answer message at the very moment. If the CLI information ispresent in the knocking call, the selection of an answer may be based onthe identification of the knocking party, either automatically orthrough displaying the knocking caller's identification to the receivingparty in the telephone's display.

Different features of the reply function are described above as separateparts. For a person skilled in the art it is, however, obvious thatthese features can be interconnected in many ways within the scope ofthe claims presented further on. Even though it has been referred aboveto a calling party, call and receiving party in the sense meaning anormal telephone connected speech contact, the reply function inaccordance with the present invention is applicable to all connectionsbetween such communication devices where the short message communicationor other messaging function according to the invention can be used. Theinvention is especially applicable to mobile communication devices ofdigital cellular networks like GSM telephones.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for replying to a call coming to aportable terminal in a situation where the user of the portable terminalcan't answer the call, wherein in response to the incoming call, theportable terminal identifies the caller on the basis of anidentification information included within the incoming call and sends areply according to a selection made by the user, or directs the incomingcall to another answering service, said reply being one of thefollowing: a voice message, an e-mail message, a facsimile, an SMSmessage in the form of a character string, and wherein said step ofidentifying the caller is accomplished by said portable terminal, andsaid step of sending a reply is accomplished by said portable terminal,said portable terminal being capable of performing said step of sendinga reply by providing a selected response to said caller exclusivelythrough the action of said portable terminal.
 2. A method in accordancewith claim 1, wherein the portable terminal sends said reply immediatelyin response to an incoming call.
 3. A method in accordance with claim 2,wherein the portable terminal routes said call additionally to a usualcall answering machine.
 4. A method in accordance with claim 1, whereinin response to an incoming call, the portable terminal alarms and waitsduring a certain predefined delay, and if the user during said delaydoes not answer said call, the portable terminal sends said reply.
 5. Amethod in accordance with claim 4, wherein the portable terminal gives asoundless alarm.
 6. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein inresponse to an incoming call, the portable terminal alarms, and if theuser gives a certain key command, the portable terminal sends saidreply, wherein, by said key command, the user of the portable terminalselects a mode of transmission of said reply from anyone of a set ofmodes including short message service, electronic mail, facsimile, andvoice message.
 7. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein saidreply is at least partly formulated based on the identification of thecalling party.
 8. A method in accordance with claim 7 wherein a reply issent to certain identified calling parties only.
 9. A method inaccordance with claim 7, wherein the reply to be sent in response to theincoming call is different according to the respective company said callis coming from.
 10. A method in accordance with claim 7, wherein thereply to be sent in response to the incoming call is different accordingto the respective country said call is coming from.
 11. A method inaccordance with claim 7, wherein the reply to be sent in response to theincoming call is different according to the respective time zone saidcall is coming from.
 12. A method in accordance with claim 7, whereinsaid identification of the calling party is based on a telephonenotebook comprised by the portable terminal.
 13. A method in accordancewith claim 12, wherein a piece of information applying to calling party,read from said telephone notebook, is included in said reply.
 14. Amethod in accordance with claims 7, wherein a reminder to call theidentified calling party will be stored into the portable terminal, inorder to be presented to the user later.
 15. A method in accordanceclaim 1, wherein said reply includes time information.
 16. A method inaccordance with claim 15, wherein said time information comprises areference to a certain fixed time by the clock.
 17. A method inaccordance with claim 15, wherein said time information comprises thelength of the time that is left from incoming of the call to a certainfixed time by the clock.
 18. A method in accordance with claim 15,wherein when the user has entered information concerning his/her timeschedule into the portable terminal, the portable terminal forms saidtime information automatically by reading from said time scheduleinformation the time when the user will be reachable.
 19. A method inaccordance with claim 15, wherein when the time until the time expressedby said time information has expired, the function controlling thesending of replies in the portable terminal in response to an incomingcall is automatically disconnected.
 20. A method in accordance withclaim 1 wherein, in said step, performed by the portable terminal, ofidentifying the caller on the basis of information included within theincoming call, the portable terminal responds to components of thenumber of the calling party as presented in a caller identification. 21.A portable terminal for replying to an incoming call in a situationwhere the user of the portable terminal can't reply the call, whereinsaid portable terminal comprises means for identifying the caller on thebasis of an identification information included within the incomingcall, and means for sending, according to a selection made by the user,a reply in response to the call, said reply being one of the following:a voice message, an e-mail message, a facsimile, an SMS message in theform of a character string, and wherein said means for sending a replyis capable of sending said reply by providing a selected response tosaid caller exclusively through the action of said portable terminal.22. A portable terminal in accordance with claim 21, wherein itcomprises a real time clock and means for including time information insaid voice message, e-mail message, facsimile, or SMS message.
 23. Amethod in accordance with claim 1 comprising a further step of the userselecting a mode of the reply subsequent to receipt of the incoming callto effect said user selection of the reply after receipt of the incomingcall.
 24. A portable terminal in accordance with claim 21, wherein itcomprises a downwards counting timer for expressing the length of thetime that is left from a certain predefined time period, and means forattaching the information expressed by said timer to said voice message,e-mail message, facsimile, or SMS message.
 25. A portable terminal inaccordance with claim 21 further comprising means enabling the user toselect a mode of the reply subsequent to receipt of the incoming call toeffect said user selection of the reply after receipt of the incomingcall, wherein the selection enabling means is operative in response to akey command as an input from the user of the portable terminal forselection of a mode of transmission of said reply from anyone of a setof modes including short message service, electronic mail facsimile, andvoice message.
 26. A portable terminal in accordance with claim 21wherein, in said means for identifying the caller on the basis ofinformation included within the incoming call, said identifying meansresponds to components of the number of the calling party as presentedin a caller identification.
 27. A method for replying to a call comingto a portable terminal in a situation wherein the user of the portableterminal does not answer the call, the method comprising the steps of:in response to the incoming call, the portable terminal identifies thecaller on the basis of an identification information included within theincoming call and sends a reply according to a selection made by theuser, or directs the incoming call to another answering service, saidreply being in a mode of response including one of the following modesof response: a voice message, an e-mail message, a facsimile, and an SMSmessage in the form of a character string; wherein said step ofidentifying the caller is accomplished by said portable terminal, andsaid step of sending a reply is accomplished by said portable terminal;wherein said selection made by the user includes a step of entering aresponse by the user and a step of selecting one of said modes ofresponse.
 28. A method according to claim 27 wherein said step ofentering a response includes generating a response.
 29. A methodaccording to claim 27 wherein said step of entering a response includesdesignating a previously stored response.
 30. A method according toclaim 27 wherein said portable terminal is capable of performing saidstep of sending a reply by providing a selected response to said callerexclusively through the action of said portable terminal.
 31. Acommunication device for replying to an incoming call in a situationwherein the user of the communication device does not reply to the call,wherein said communication device comprises means for identifynig thecaller on the basis of an identification information included within theincoming call, and reply means for sending, according to a selectionmade by the user, a reply in response to the call, said reply being oneof the following modes of response: a voice message, an e-mail message,a facsimile, and an SMS message in the form of a character string;wherein said reply means is capable of sending said reply by providing aselected response to said caller, said reply means including a dataentry device for generating a response and a selector of a previouslystored response.
 32. A communication device according to claim 31wherein said reply means is operative to provide said selected responseexclusively through the action of said portable terminal.